A Literature Review on Wearing Gloves as Strategies to  Prevent Neonates in Hospitals From Healthcare-Associated Infections

Abstract

　The purpose of this study was to clarify the effect wearing gloves has on preventing neonates from healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), based on literature reviews. The literatures as far back as the 1970s were retrieved using the keywords “gloves” and “neonates”, “nosocomial infections” or “healthcare-associated infections” with the literature search engine such as Igaku Chuo Zasshi (Ver.5), PubMed, and CINAHL Plus with Full Text. Fifty-eight literatures were retrieved and analyzed. The research literatures from the 1970s to the 1990s were mainly reports of outbreaks of infection at hospitals, and in the 2000s, research on verification of the effects of wearing gloves increased. As a result of research of the Pearson's correlation coefficient between MRSA colonization rate and the amount of gloves used, based on literatures showing amount of gloves used, a strong negative correlation between MRSA colonization rate and the amount of gloves used, r＝－0.873, was found. The risk ratio of MRSA colonization rate depending on the use or non-use of gloves was 2.24 (95％Cl : 1.79－2.79). From this result, it can be said that MRSA can be prevented from infection by wearing gloves. However, in some cases, the effects of wearing gloves could not be fully exerted and it was found to be difficult to control the transmission of infection.